TESOL 97 WEEKEND CLASS

Instructor: Jayme

Student: Kim, Ye Eun(Lydia)

Second Language Learning Experience

Some people developed in logical area might satisfy with explainer type of teacher. However, I am not that type of person who can learn and understand what teachers teach. I am the learner who needs activities and practices to take knowledge. When I learned second language which was English, activities were extremely important to improve my language skill.

I started learning English when I was 10 years old from school and also I had a English tutor who visited my house twice a week. I had two English teachers who had same type of teaching style. They were explainer and sometimes involver. When the class started, they gave me a brief information and concept of what we were going to learn that day. They explained the concept through text book, and after that, I had to solve the example questions. I think that was their way for Concept Check Question(CCQ). If the chapter contained text, teachers asked me to read, and after I finished reading, they always read it through again with translation. It was same pattern and program. Reading, translating, solving questions below the text were repeated. And it was typical traditional way of teaching in Korea.

There was no fun and class mood was always serious. I studied with text book only, so Teacher Talking Time(TTT) was very high, on the other hand, Student Taking Time(STT) was really low. It was just Jug and Mug type class. Of course, I could not find interest in English, and I was not study hard. My reading skill was improved little bit, but level of reading skill was not increased after I got some point. I was learning English for three years in similar circumstances, but my English was barely improved. I could say that it was failure language learning experience.

Learning a second language is very difficult when student doesn't have chance to practices it in real life. Just learning about it and not actually using it was not enough for me to improve English skill. To improve English skill, I needed the opposite type of teacher from traditional type which was chalk and talk. I found it out when I met teacher Andrew whom I met in English academy. He was American, and his class was very active. I could try many type of activities which were Visual, Auditory, and Tactile-Kinesthetic(VAK). When we started new chapter, he usually started it with warmer. Type of warmers were showing us video clip, telling us short story with pictures or acting, memory games, and doing hand made something. Through many type of activities, I was became a student who had interest in English. Andrew's class was also modern classroom. He encouraged students to talk a lot in the classroom, and he gave us both deductive and inductive types of learning environment while we did activities. Because of his teaching style, my English skill was increased very fast.

In conclusion, when I learned the second language, the effective teacher was not a traditional type teacher but modern type. I could improve my English when there was environment that I could practices more through variety activities. In that case, Student Talking Time(STT) was high, and Teacher Talking Time(TTT) was low. The mood of the class was very free and vibrant, so I could ask question to teacher without any hesitation. Which meant that rapport was also important. For me, successful second language learning environment was modern type classroom.